Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/276

POEMS OF GREECE Then, from her daïs in the utmost hall,

Shone toward them Aphroditê, not by firm,

Imperial footfalls, but in measureless

Procession, even as, wafted by her doves,

She kissed the faces of the yearning waves

From Cyprus to the high Thessalian mount,

Claiming her throne in Heaven; so light she stept,

Untended by her Graces; only he,

Erôs, th' eternal child, with welcomings

Sprang forward to Arês, like a beam of light

Flashed from a coming brightness, ere it comes;

And the ambrosial mother to his glee

Joined her own joy, coy as she glided near

Arês, till Arês closed her in his arms

An instant, with the perfect love of Gods.

And the wide chamber gleamed with their delight,

And infinite tinkling laughters rippled through

Far halls, wherefrom no boding echoes came.

But when the passion of their meeting fell

To dalliance, the mighty lovers, sunk

Within those ivory couches golden-fleeced,

Made wassail at the wondrous board, and held

Sweet stolen converse till the middle night.

And soulless servitors came gliding in,

Handmaidens, wrought of gold, the marvellous work

Of lame Hêphaistos; having neither will,

Nor voice, yet bearing on their golden trays

Lush fruits and Cyprian wine, and, intermixt,

Olympian food and nectar, earth with heaven.

These Erôs and Alectryôn took therefrom,

And placed before the lovers: and, meanwhile,

Melodious breathings from unfingered lutes,

Warblings from unseen nightingales, and songs

From lips uncrimsoned, scattered music round.

So fled the light-shod moments, hour by hour,

While the grim husband clanged upon his forge 246